Ari Jonathan Katz's Blog

Anyone looking to get away from the cold winter should read this article to learn about AWESOME deals being offered by various travel agencies...

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:11:53 -0500

Anyone looking to get away from the cold winter should read this article to learn about AWESOME deals being offered by various travel agencies...

Jim Carey’s version of “Jumper” a Third Eye...

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:50:16 -0500

Jim Carey’s version of “Jumper” a Third Eye Blind masterpiece… a MUST see. :)

Benjamin Button

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:38:27 -0500

Saw “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” tonight - it was incredible… to be honest, I didn’t think anything could beat “Slumdog Millionaire” as best movie of the year - but believe it or not, I think “Button” was better… Just unbelievable… gives you a really different perspective on time - and growing old… If you can, go see it this weekend - you will LOVE it…

CES 2009

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:50:09 -0500

Just booked my flight for CES 2009 in Las Vegas… very excited to be there… If you will be out there, let me know so we can meet up, :).

James Blunt last night at the Waterkeeper event singing his #1...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:05:07 -0500

James Blunt last night at the Waterkeeper event singing his #1 song, “You’re Beautiful”. WOW.

The entertainment was provided by Grammy winning artist James...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:40:19 -0500

The entertainment was provided by Grammy winning artist James Blunt - he was incredible…

Was at a charity event tonight for a terrific organization...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:39:13 -0500

Was at a charity event tonight for a terrific organization called the Waterkeeper’s Alliance - they work hard for the environment and I am a proud supporter of their mission. Anyways, their founder, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the keynote speaker…

Interesting Article in this month's Inc. Magainze discussing the importance of a good company name... this Article profiles my company, PhoneTag (formerly known as SimulScribe).

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:04:49 -0500

Interesting Article in this month's Inc. Magainze discussing the importance of a good company name... this Article profiles my company, PhoneTag (formerly known as SimulScribe).

Fundamentally F***ed.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:58:05 -0500

Was sitting with a friend today chatting about some business ventures when he declared to me that the VC model as-is is “fundamentally f*cked” - literally, inherently flawed. To give you a little background on this guy, he has started 9 companies, successfully selling 4 of them, one of which was sold a few years ago (actual sales price was not disclosed but believed to be for between $50-100 million). Needless to say, he is a successful and serial entrepreneur. According to him, the VC model that so many entrepreneurs live by, is just plain broken.

He believes in a straight rev-share model for owners, and employees. Here is his personal build model:

Start a company with private funds thereby preserving equity
Hire motivated, ambitious, and driven employees
Empower them with ownership (ie. rev-share)
Do NOT offer them a salary
Instead, empower them with equity
Create, design, build, tweak, go to market with a product
Monetize it, sell it, MAKE MONEY
Split the profits amongst employees/owners
Get rich :)

Basically, he believes (as many do) that people who are motivated by a salary or other corporate perks are not going to be AS motivated, driven, and likely to exceed goals/expectations (both personally and with regards to company’s bottom-line) as those employees who literally eat what they kill. The idea is that for the employee, there is so much more upside when you can be an owner of a company, and if you recognize this opportunity, you will work much harder to achieve and exceed even the loftiest of goals and expectations. According to my friend, when you empower someone with a lofty title, or stake of equity, you are setting them up to not only be more motivated to achieve certain goals, but to actually exceed those goals and successfully build a business.

The problem with the VC model is that it is all cookie-cutter. Go out, raise $250K, give away half the company, hire 2 employees. Get an office, generate a bit of revenue, get a decent valuation, raise another $2M, give away some more of the company. Hire more people, generate more revenue. Sell the company (if you’re lucky) and walk away with your 5% take (if you’re even luckier) on the company you yourself started …

I don’t know about you but that definitely sounds awfully flawed to me.

"Matt Cassel is in need of a supermodel on his arm because he is looking more and more like Tom Brady"

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:03:54 -0500

“Matt Cassel is in need of a supermodel on his arm because he is looking more and more like Tom Brady”

- Chris Collinsworth on Football Night in America last night on NBC

New Computer is finally here!

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:53:42 -0500

Got my new IBM-LENOVO desktop today… it’s amazing how much faster and quieter it is than my old HP (which had decent speed but was super LOUD). I was willing to spend the money on a new desktop because I am on it so often and I know how much more efficient I will be with this new speedy system.

Boxee.tv

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:05:00 -0500

Boxee.tv:

Keep an eye on these guys - just raised a $4M round from successful VC firms Spark Capital (Boston) and Union Square Ventures (NY). Both firms have a great track record with these types of startups, so I would keep my eye on this one… good luck to all parties involved.

Had a good time tonight at the Nets-Cavs game… LeBron...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:53:00 -0500

Had a good time tonight at the Nets-Cavs game… LeBron James really is amazing… the game was a treat because it was FREE. I got a call from some NJ NETS sales guy who thought I was some VIP who he needed to wine and dine in hopes I would become a season tickets holder (thank you Robbie!)- he offered my 2 comped (free) tix to the game (section 1, $110 face value) as well as comped food and beverages… What a nice time… I might actually have to buy some tickets from him now… :)

eBay Savings / Microsoft Cash Back Program

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:27:00 -0500

I bought a new computer on eBay last week (it’s one of the only ways to still get Windows XP). In the process, I remembered seeing a blog post about a Cash Back program Windows was doing. Sure enough, after following the instructions (which can be found here) I saved $100 off of my purchase (which represented a 25% discount).

Of course this morning I got a 10% coupon from eBay which needs to be used by the end of the month… I wish it woulda come last week!

Busy Weekend

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:16:00 -0500

Had a very busy weekend as my entire family was in town. Shari cooked a delicious meal for Friday night dinner and my sister Tova hosted everyone for Saturday lunch.

Saturday night we went to see the Angelina Jolie movie “Changling” - an excellent movie but very scary (crazy to think that the torture depicted in the movie used to happen on American soil!!).

Yesterday we spent the day at Shari’s grandmother’s 97th birthday, then off to a wedding in NJ, capped with a late night visit to my cousins who just gave birth to a baby girl last week. Needless to say, by the time I hit the pillow last night I was WIPED.

This week figures to be a busy week as well as I have several meetings on tap, as well as Nets-Cavs (King LeBron) tix for tomorrow night… already looking forward to the weekend, :).

1 hour and 51¢ later...

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:21:00 -0500

For the last few weeks my DTV box in my bedroom has not been working. Back on 11/3 I called DTV to trouble shoot the problem, and they determined that my receiver was defective and offered to ship me out a new box (under warranty) for free. On 11/5 I received the new box, and after properly installing it, I was suprised that the problem from the first box seemed to have carried over to the new box. Needless to say (despite what my Uncle Neil might say) I have not had the time or the chance to call DTV since then in order to trouble shoot the issue again. Until last night.

I spent about 1 hour on the phone with DTV trying to get the issue resolved, and after finally figuring out what the problem was, I requested a credit for the amount of time that my system was down (from 11/3 until today, 10 days in total). After being placed on hold, the representative came back and let me know that since I still had service in my living room, I was only eligible to a fraction of credit, amounting to a grand total of… 51 cents! What a joke.

Anyways, after some bickering back and forth about what a lousy customer service experience this was, I got the rep to up the credit to $30 total. I think the rep finally caved in when I said instead of DTV’s “Good TV, Better TV, Direct TV” campaign they should use “Bad Customer Service, Worst Customer Service, Direct TV Customer Service.” LOL.

Anyways - at least everything will be up and running for tonight’s Pats-Jets game on the NFL Network. Let’s go Pats! (www.LetsGoPats.com).

Starbucks - still my favorite.

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:48:00 -0500

Starbucks has been getting a lot of bad press lately - that’s part of the reason they re-hired their founder Howard Schultz (author of a great book, “Pour Your Heart Into It”) to come back inside and start running the business again. He says he plans to close down lots of their lowest revenue stores (they are, afterall, EVERYWHERE) and I think this will help build the brand back up to where it was 5-7 years as an upscale society of coffee addicts. Less food, more coffee.

Anyways, I just got out of a meeting at the local Stbx here @ 93rd and Broadway, and about 10 minutes after I walked out of the store, my blackberry rang. It was a Stbx employee calling to tell me I had left my notebook on the table (it had my phone number on the front). I was very impressed with this level of customer service.

The reason I am willing to shell out $3+ for coffee/tea is because of this customer service. Can anyone honestly tell me had I left my notebook at the D&D around the corner that I would have ever seen it again?

Politically Incorrect?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:26:03 -0500

Saw Gov. Sarah Palin on TODAY this AM - it was like the Katie Couric interview part II. She looked awful - never gave a straight answer, and just rambled on and on… It was also the first time I actually heard her husband Todd speak - up until now i actually thought he was a mute. Seems like a nice guy, but there’s no questions who wears the pants in that family.

I just can’t shake the feeling i get from Palin - I hate that she can’t give a straight answer - it’s never black and white with her (no pun intended), she always just starts blabbering about some cliche…

ON THE OTHER HAND, tonight I saw Sen. McCain on Jay Leno - he was AMAZING. best line ever - Jay asked him how he’s doing only a week removed from the election - McCain replies: “I’ve been sleeping like a baby… sleep for 2 hours, get up and cry, sleep for 2 hours get up and cry…”… LOL. The truth is (and Jay Leno said this), it’s too bad we didn’t see more of this side of McCain during the campaigns - Shari and I both agree that we like him more and more in the last few weeks after seeing him do some of these more candid interviews (the one at halftime of last week’s MNF game on ESPN was claaaaasic).

Oh well, time to move forward in unity and support President elect Obama - I really do like McCain though… who knows, maybe he’ll run one more time when he’s 76… =)

"Here’s how it works [at www.Chegg.com]: students find the books they want by searching by ISBN,..."

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:52:13 -0500

“Here’s how it works [at www.Chegg.com]: students find the books they want by searching by ISBN, author, title or keyword. The rental price for the semester or quarter is just 20-30% of the full retail price, and are delivered within eight business days. At the end of the term, the students receive a pre-paid shipping box to return them. Students are even allowed to highlight books (but no writing in them).”

- Techcrunch - www.techcrunch.com referring to Kleiner Perkins backed company www.Chegg.com.

This seems like an awesome company - what a great idea - I will definitely encourage Shari (my wife) to use them. Should save us a ton of $$!

My beautiful wife and I…

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:12:18 -0500

My beautiful wife and I…